Certificate in Reflective and Faithful Teaching

The Certificate in Reflective and Faithful Teaching (CRAFT) fosters the ongoing development of Th.D. students as theological educators by helping them to:

Reflect theologically about the craft and vocation of teaching;

Hone practical teaching skills with an eye toward different contexts of teaching, including online instruction;

Develop a thoughtful, theologically grounded philosophy of teaching;

Improve their teaching in response to oral and written feedback from peers and professors;

Create a digital teaching portfolio for use in the job search.

The CRAFT program has helped me grow as a theological educator in both academic and ecclesial contexts. Informative, constructive, and candid conversations with faculty and fellow doctoral students covered a broad range of topics, from teaching philosophy to practical pedagogical skills. We were able not only to exchange valuable ideas and resources but also to deepen our friendships with one another.

Sangwoo Kim, Th.D. '16

CRAFT Colloquia on Teaching

Thinking Theologically About Education

Faculty and advanced doctoral students lead a yearly cycle of interactive colloquia on teaching. Topics for these meetings include:

What is taught? (Are we teaching knowledge, skills, or virtues?)

Who is taught? (Anthropological assumptions in various pedagogies; teaching diverse students)

Where are they taught? (Challenges and opportunities presented by different educational contexts)

How is it taught? (Critical consideration of different pedagogies)

Who is teaching? (Teaching as vocation; the teacher as person)

Why is it taught? (Developing a philosophy of teaching)

Students normally attend six colloquia over the course of an academic year. While the yearly cycle of topics remains constant, the content of the individual sessions varies. Participants may elect to attend more than one cycle of the colloquia during their residence at Duke.

Requirements

The requirements for the certificate are:

Successful completion of two core courses:

Foundations: The core Th.D. seminar, taken in a student’s first semester in the program.

Focal Issues: Credit for this course is awarded for participation in six CRAFT colloquia spread across the academic year. Ordinarily all six colloquia will be taken in sequence over the course of the year, but it is possible for students to spread their attendance out over two years if necessary. Students participate in these sessions synchronously, either in person or remotely through a live web link. Students may make up one missed session per semester (except for the final colloquium of the year) by watching the recording posted online after the meeting.

Supervised teaching session in which the student

prepares a teaching plan for the class session, drawing on insights from the colloquium on pedagogy, and provides the evaluator with a copy in advance of the class;

conducts class with the faculty evaluator in attendance;

meets with the faculty evaluator to discuss and receive written feedback on the class session.
The supervised teaching session is normally scheduled during the student’s second year of the program in conjunction with a precepting assignment. In some cases teaching evaluations may take place in the context of a course co-taught by a faculty member and an advanced Th.D. student.

Creation of a digital teaching portfolio that includes, at minimum:

a statement of teaching philosophy

a sample lesson plan

a sample syllabus for a standard course in one’s field

faculty feedback on one’s teaching.
Students meet with a faculty reviewer to discuss the portfolio and its artifacts.